Assignment
WHAT TO TURN IN HERE:
Explain your understanding of this Literature Review Essay by Sunday, Nov. 12, 11:59pm PST
LITERATURE REVIEW ESSAY 10%
What is a Literature Review?
A literature review is a writing assignment that allows students to explore the ideas they've been researching prior to including these ideas in a formal research paper. The purpose of the literature review is to assess the field of research in an area that you're exploring, and to share your reflections, thoughts, and analysis about the research.
Directions for the Literature Review Analysis essay:
You will be assigned a topic and theme for your literature review (WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE EDUCATED? PULL FROM YOUR LITERACY NARRATIVE TO IDENTIFY THE PROBLEM YOU'D LIKE TO ADDRESS) and will conduct research related to the topic with your group and on your own. You will then compose an essay in which you summarize, analyze, and discuss the sources you have found. (Eventually, the sources you review in this essay will be used in your Research Paper due in Week 15; actually, think of this paper as a "partial draft" of your eventual research project.)
HOW TO STRUCTURE YOUR LITERATURE REVIEW
1. Begin with an introduction that highlights the common themes and ideas in the research sources you've encountered.
2. The body of your literature review should summarize the individual sources you'll be referencing, pulling interesting quotes and responding to ideas and assertions from each of the sources. You should not have "subheadings" but this should be a cohesive paper that examines, analyzes, summarizes, and compares and contrasts the different sources that you find and read using the topics and themes of each source as an organizational guide. Think of these sources as being in "conversation" with one another.
3. Your conclusion to the literature review should discuss how these sources will help you answer the Research Prompt you'll be given when this LIterature Review essay is assigned.
4. Your literature review should be accompanied by a Works Cited page and its own Annotated Bibliography - a "works cited" page in alphabetical order that also includes a 100 words or so "summary analysis" of the basics of the source.
5. Be sure to include the following information for each article in the Literature Review:
• A brief summary of the main points (1-3 sentences is plenty)
• The article's answer to your research prompt, or the answer it suggests or contributes to.
• A brief critique (about 1-3 sentences) describing how persuasive the article is.
• This essay doesn't have a "page requirement" because it depends upon the complexity of the sources you've found, but it may be anywhere from 2 pages to 7 pages, usually)
When composing your literature review, consider the following in your revision process:
• Thesis and summaries should be in your own words. Do not copy and paste.
• Some articles will not directly answer the research prompt, but will provide part of the answer, or background information for the answer, or in some other way will help you to develop your own answer. Your writing and commentary should indicate how sufficiently the sources do this.
• You should have articles that provide different answers to your research prompt. In other words, there should be evidence of DEBATE among your sources.
• After writing a draft, you will probably have an idea of what you think the correct answer is for the research prompt. Therefore, you will be agreeing with some of your sources, and disagreeing with other sources. Your CRITIQUE of the sources should give an indication of why you consider some sources more persuasive than others.
• If , in critique your sources, you find that the ones you agree with have worse evidence and/or worse reasoning than those you disagree with, be prepared to change your answer to the research prompt. The research should inform your own answer.
• Don't critique purely factual sources (like data sources, etc.) but note how these sources support your argument.
• Don't critique sources that are not relevant to your research question.